Stormee Fowler ran from poverty and toxic people around her for years.

She grew up "in the sticks" and was a teenage mom in northwest Georgia, where she knew plenty of people who were addicted to crystal meth and stole prescription medications.

Fowler, 25, said she never tried the drug because she saw its consequences, but she still didn't have a support system. Looking for a better life, she hopped from job to job for years, trying to find a place to hang her hat.

Then she arrived at LifeStream Behavioral Center's Anthony House. Fowler said staffers at Anthony House, in northwest Orange County off U.S. Highway 441, have been like the family she never had. They've helped her find a job and taught her life skills to cope with challenges.

Now, she has a steady job and lives with her boyfriend and two kids, ages 8 and 1, at Anthony House, which is supported by donations to the Orlando Sentinel Family Fund.

Anthony House provides transitional housing for the homeless and is sheltering more than 40. It also has a program for those with substance abuse problems. Residents stay for about nine months to a year, until they save enough money and learn the life skills to set out on their own.

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"I don't know what I'd do without it because it's allowed me to save my money," Fowler said. "If I need help with anything, like if I have a question about job applications and getting apartments, they help me."

For the first time in her life she and her family have some stability. Her boyfriend found part-time work in construction, and Fowler got job as a cashier at Goodwill.

"There's three things: Goodwill, Anthony House and my family," she said. "Those three things right there helped me through so much, it's ridiculous. I never thought there were ways that people would actually help me."

It's a far cry from other jobs she's had in the Orlando area that fell apart — the Kmart that closed, the Mexican restaurant that stopped putting her on the schedule and freelance work posting ads on Craigslist that was inconsistent.

Things took a turn for the worse when she had a confrontation with a man who lived near her and her boyfriend's home in Orlando and Fowler said she tazed him in defense. When police arrived, she was arrested on a count of aggravated battery.

"We had to fight it, really badly," Fowler said. Prosecutors decided not to file formal charges. She went back to Georgia, but when her situation didn't improve there, she heard about Anthony House. With just two pairs of clothes, she arrived back in Orlando after her first airplane ride with her kids.

Barbie Werst, a lead residential specialist at Anthony House, said Fowler "came in here with literally nothing and was a single mom with these two little kids and was just as tender."

She added, "She has grown exponentially in her self-esteem and her self-worth."

Fowler said she's saving up to move into a house and wants to keep working at Goodwill — which she said is another "family" — and hopes to work toward becoming a manager.

"It turned out that there was quite a few people here who made me feel quite a lot better," Fowler said.

Thousands of children and families throughout Central Florida need your help. A donation to the Orlando Sentinel Family Fund Holiday Campaign helps fund youth education, hunger, homelessness prevention and child-abuse prevention and treatment programs. All expenses are covered by the Orlando Sentinel and the McCormick Foundation, which contributes 50 cents for every dollar donated, increasing your charitable giving. You can charge a donation to a credit card by calling 1-800-518-3978. Or go online atwww.orlandosentinelfamilyfund.org/donate. Questions? Call 407-420-5705.